Battle NetCity
by mikanflower
Summary: NetCity, a wildly popular game, sells out in seconds to the first ten thousand eager buyers. Lan Hikari, the operator of the NetNavi Megaman, purchases the game, but he finds out that he cannot jack out, meaning that Megaman is permanently stuck in the game. Who did this, and why? Most importantly, will Megaman be able to escape? Rated T for violence and for future stuff.
1. Prologue - No Escape

_"Lan!" Megaman called out from his operator's PET, or Personal Terminal. "It's time for you to wake up!" Although Lan had placed his PET on his desk, which was a few feet away from his bed, it was still loud enough to pass for an alarm._

_"No," Lan whined, turning away from his PET and covering his ears with his pillow. "I want to sleep more."_

_"Sleep more?" Megaman sighed, crossing his arms. "You already slept for a whole eleven hours or so. Now get up, will you? You have a busy day."_

_"Fine, fine," Lan mumbled, sitting up in his bed and running through a hand through his messy, dark brown hair._

_"Remember? You're getting the NetCity game today!" Megaman said, grinning excitedly. Lan's eyes, which had been partly shut due to grogginess, suddenly flew open, and he stood up quickly. A look of eager curiosity appeared on his face as he asked, "It's today?"_

_"Yes, Lan, but you should get a move on," Megaman commented, eliciting a groan from the twelve-year-old boy who grudgingly trudged to the bathroom to get ready for the day._

_About an hour later, an impatient Lan stared at the installation instructions manual of the game. "How do you do this?" he muttered to himself. "Oh, okay, first I have to jack in. Jack in! Megaman! Execute!" Lan yelled, plugging the cord into his computer. Megaman immediately disappeared from the PET screen, reappearing in the CyberWorld. He was prompted to create a new account and did so, while Lan pressed various buttons on his PET to finish the process._

_Passing through multiple screens, Megaman marveled at NetCity when he finally arrived. "Wow!" The city was huge, consisting of many tall, grey buildings and holographic screens all packed underneath a dark blue sky. Various NetNavis walked through the streets and into different shops and restaurants. It seemed like even apartments, houses, and banks were included._

_But before Lan and Megaman could even begin to enjoy the fun, his mother called from downstairs. "Lan! Time for dinner!"_

_"Coming!" Lan replied after a small groan. "Let's jack ou- wait, what?" The cord refused to budge from the computer. He pulled on it a couple of times, but it did not come out. It was simply stuck inside, and there seemed to be no way to remove it._

_"Lan, what is the matter?" his mother asked, entering his bedroom with a deep frown and looking at his PET._

_"I-I can't jack out."_

* * *

Self-explanatory, short prologue. I promise things get much more detailed and interesting as the story progresses.

Oh, how rude of me. Let me introduce myself. You can call me Audrey, and this is actually my first fanfic!

Thanks so much for reading! See you next chapter. :)

UPDATE: I forgot to mention something. This may sound similar to Sword Art Online, but the plot and characters are not based on that particular anime, so this will not count as a crossover fic. Thank you Empress Roll for the review, it reminded me that I had to talk about this.


	2. Chapter 1 - The Beginning of the End

"What do you mean?" Lan's mother said, a look of confusion replacing her frown. "Can't you just take the wire out of the jack-in port?"

"I tried, but I think it's stuck," Lan replied with a small sigh. This had to be a joke. Perhaps his jack-in cord malfunctioned, or maybe, just maybe, a virus affecting his computer was the problem. Unfortunately, he couldn't explore the latter option because Megaman was literally stuck in NetCity.

"How about you eat your dinner first, sweetie?" his mother suggested, turning away from him and walking back downstairs. "Your food is getting cold."

Lan shrugged. "I'm going to call my friends first and see what's going on." He turned back to his PET and said directly to it, "Megaman, call Mayl." Standing on the sidewalk along Main Street in NetCity, Megaman stood with his arms folded across his chest, tapping his foot as he tried not to roll his eyes at his operator's stupidity. Really, Lan was so forgetful and irresponsible that Megaman constantly had to remind him to do his homework and pretty much about anything and everything. Megaman sometimes wondered how Lan would function if he weren't there, meaning in the PET. Probably like right now, since he _wasn't_ there at the moment, and Lan was being somewhat exasperating. "Lan, remember? I'm stuck here, so you have to call her yourself," Megaman called from inside the PC.

"Oh, right!" Lan said, as if he hadn't forgotten the whole time, but of course that wasn't the case. Picking up his PET and dialing Mayl's number, he held it up to his ear as she answered the phone call. "Hey Lan. What's up?"

"Mayl, do you play NetWorld?" he asked immediately.

"Yeah, I do! You can't jack out, right?" Mayl asked in turn.

"That's what I was going to ask you about!" Lan commented. "But yeah, I can't jack out."

"Me neither. Roll's going to be stuck in there all alone. I hope she'll be fine," she replied, her voice tinted with concern. Lan felt a frown spread onto his face; he didn't want her sad. It was rather surprising to hear his best friend so worried; she always managed to see the bright side of things.

Trying to sound as cheerful as possible, he answered, "I'm sure Roll will be fine; she's really strong!"

"You're right," Mayl said happily. "Thanks, Lan." He smiled, a light blush dusting his cheeks. "But I think I should go. You should talk to Yai and Dex and see if they have the same problem."

"That sounds like a good idea. I'll have Megaman find Roll so she won't be by herself," Lan said. "See you later!"

"Bye!" With a click, Mayl hung up. Lan immediately dialed Dex's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Dex here," he said. "What's up Lan?"

"Do you play NetWorld?" Lan asked.

"Who _doesn't_?" Dex scoffed. "But anyway, yeah, I do. Why, what's it matter to you?"

"Megaman's stuck, so I can't jack out," Lan replied.

"Of course he is," Dex laughed. "Compared to Gutsman, he has no skill at all." What a joke.

Lan bristled at the comment. "You're just jealous because Megaman always wins in NetBattles," he said dismissively. "Anyway, so I'm guessing you can't jack out either?"

"Hate to admit it, but yeah," Dex responded.

"I'm only asking cause Mayl was wondering," Lan said with a roll of his eyes.

"_Mayl_? I knew it! She cares about me more than you!" Dex yelled gleefully. "Stay away from my Mayl-chan, you hear?" he threatened.

Lan sighed. "Whatever, whatever. Have Gutsman meet up with Megaman and Roll. I'm hanging up." Ending the call, he then dialed Yai's number.

"Yai speaking, what's the matter?" she said nonchalantly. Lan could hear her drinking strawberry milk through a straw very clearly.

"Since Mayl and Dex play NetWorld, I'm guessing you-"

"Yes, I play it too," Yai interrupted. "What do you think? Popular games are always mine first."

Selfish much? "But can you jack out?" Lan asked.

"Unfortunately, no," she said with a small sigh. "That is the only thing I dislike about this game."

"Something seems fishy," Lan commented. "Games don't usually do that, unless-"

"It's on purpose," Yai finished. They didn't speak for a while, processing the idea of the game possibly being a whole conspiracy, before she cleared her throat. "Well, it's probably a glitch. I know they'll fix it. I cannot stand poorly made video games. At least _my_ company doesn't do that. It isn't third-rate, unlike some white-haired, blue-eyed, mean boy's corpo-"

"Okay, okay," Lan cut in. "Glyde should probably find Megaman, Roll, and Gutsman or something. Right?"

"Sounds good." With that, Lan hung up and turned back to his PC. "So, any plans, Lan?" Megaman asked, still tapping his foot.

"I promised Mayl you'd meet Roll, so you better do that first. Then I told Yai and Dex to have Glyde and Gutsman meet the both of you somewhere," Lan said, picking up a Battlechip that was lying on his desk and absentmindedly toying with it.

"Roger!" Megaman said, walking down the street as he called out, "Roll? Where are you?" After some time, he ended up standing in front of a huge bank, still searching for the pink female NetNavi. Interestingly, Roll appeared after five minutes or so and tackled Megaman with a hug, grinning widely. "Megaman!" She wore a helmet with a pair of transparent "ribbons" that curved behind her with circular "buttons" attached to them. She stood roughly at the same height as Megaman.

"Roll-chan!" he said happily, blushing a light pink as he returned the hug affectionately. They stood there hugging for a while before Lan cleared his throat. "Right, so, uh-"

"Wait for me!" Gutsman approached the both of them and picked up Roll, glaring at Megaman. "No touching Roll!" Gutsman was a yellow, bulky Navi with large hands and feet and a rectangular head, although his chest was red and was marked with a green cross.

"Why do you two always have to fight childishly over a girl?" Glyde strolled to the trio and acknowledged each of them with a nod. "Megaman. Roll. Gutsman." Glyde was not really considered to be a battle Navi and instead served as more of a butler to Yai. He was a tall NetNavi with white wings attached to his back, wearing a black and white suit with brown shoes. Yellow rings encased his legs and brown arms. On his chest sat a red diamond on top of a black circle with two yellow triangles next to each other.

Immediately, all the billboards stopped moving, and the electricity and power went out as NetNavis began to panic and run around wildly. Dark clouds hovered over the street, crackling with energy and bolts of lightning flashing. A NetNavi stood among the clouds, only appearing to other Navis as a dark, menacing shadow. Megaman thought he looked familiar. What was his name? Cloudman? He couldn't really tell, however.

"Greetings, NetNavis and NetOperators," the NetNavi boomed. The whole city went dead silent as NetNavis stopped moving and focused their attention on him. "Here are some things you must know.

"There are a couple of rules in NetWorld. Listen closely, NetOperators. You _may_ use Battlechips outside of the Colosseum, which means NetCity is not accountable for NetNavis who delete each other. There will be crime-free areas made available where NetNavis can stay and not have to worry about threats and dangers. Although, it is highly recommended that NetNavis do not stay there the entire time.

"Secondly, this will probably be the most important piece of information I can give you. In order to escape this game (and help everyone else escape as well,) you must locate what I call the Program and delete it. I will not give you where and what it is, as you must find it for yourself. It is immensely powerful, so beware.

"Lastly, be mindful that if your NetNavi's HP falls to zero, it will be deleted. Permanently. Once it is deleted, you may not restore it from backup or choose a second NetNavi to reenter the game. This is because when you made your account, or rather, your NetNavi did, the security system detected you by collecting basic information about you and simple data about your NetNavi. You have been warned."

* * *

Yay, somewhat long chapter! I'd like to introduce NutellaUnicorn as my beta-chan and thank her for reading my chapters and whatnot. Also, check out her stories! She writes a lot of Hetalia and is currently working on a couple of Shingeki no Kyojin fics. Not to mention, I'm also working on a Shingeki no Kyojin one, ohonhonhon. If you're interested, my profile will be updated from time to time about future stories.

So yep! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or comments, or if you don't have an account, then post your questions and comments in the reviews! There will also be polls about your opinion of the plot or your favorite characters and whatnot, so stay tuned for those!

Thanks for reading, and see you next chapter. :) - Audrey Mikanflower

EDIT: I realized that combining the Japanese and English language styles was weird after reading it over a bit, so thank you Ghost501 for noticing that!


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